A state monopoly over mail delivery has long been the status quo in Canada. But it wasn’t always that way. During the pre-Confederation era, a range of feisty stagecoach and shipping companies delivered letters in competition with colonial government operations. And in the 1920s, a few enterprising aviators offered their own private air-mail service throughout Canada’s North – sometimes even issuing their own stamps. Today, with Canada Post facing the prospect of bankruptcy, Peter Shawn Taylor argues it’s time to let the market reassert control over delivering the mail. Taking a close look at successful privatization efforts around the world and talking to experts in both Europe and North America, Taylor considers the best way to ensure taxpayers don’t end up on the hook for a mail service few of them use anymore.

Canada has a long record of obscure knife laws. Did you know, for example, that cane swords are legal while comb knives are not? Or that starting in 2025 Manitoba will restrict the sale of machetes throughout the province? Meant to deter young gang members from using the imposing-looking bush knives as weapons, Manitoba’s new law sets a national precedent for knife control. And its proponents want it expanded in ways reminiscent of federal gun control, including bans, a knife registry and storage requirements. In interviewing experts and other key figures, however, Peter Shawn Taylor discovers that Manitoba’s “cutting-edge” law misses the point entirely.

“The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify,” cautioned journalist Darrell Huff in his famous 1954 book How to Lie with Statistics. It’s still useful advice, although Canadians might hope such a warning isn’t required for the work of Statistics Canada. In an exclusive C2C investigation, Peter Shawn Taylor takes apart a recent Statcan study to reveal its use of controversial, woke and unscientific methods to confuse what should be the straightforward task of reporting on the drinking habits of Canadians in various demographic groups. He also uncovers data the statistical agency wants to keep hidden for reasons of “historical/cultural or other contexts”.

In a 2017 TV interview, then British Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip caused a collective gasp when they admitted to splitting up “boy jobs” and “girl jobs” around the house. May went on to win the subsequent election, so her frankness did her career no harm. But the idea that tasks or occupations might be divided on the basis of sex can still cause public apoplexy. Unless, of course, the evidence shows women are better at something than men. In Part III of a special series on “tonic masculinity”, Peter Shawn Taylor looks at recent research suggesting female surgeons outperform male surgeons, and wonders what that means for life outside the operating room. (Part I can be read here and Part II can be read here.)

“Environmental racism” is frequently tossed about Canadian society these days. But what does it actually mean? It’s not about favouring white spruce trees over black spruce trees. Rather, it involves the twisting of basic economic principles into a vicious, politically loaded accusation. The same sense of confusion is sown with other linguistic tricks such as “organizational elder abuse”, “excessive net profits”, “renovictions” and “stakeholder capitalism”. As left-wing politicians and activists seek to redefine fundamental economic and financial concepts as malign forces and to recast socialist objectives as free-market values, Peter Shawn Taylor offers puzzled readers a practical guide to navigating the etymological fog.

In China, minor security infractions are routinely punished with lengthy jail terms in dreadful conditions. In Canada, it’s just the opposite. Clear evidence of espionage is rewarded with a free pass back home after the mission is complete. Neglecting our national security in this way may suit the Justin Trudeau government, but it is doing great harm to Canada’s relationship with its most important allies. In the concluding instalment of his two-part series, Peter Shawn Taylor examines the many ways in which the spy scandal at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg has damaged Canada’s international standing and contributed to the growing perception that Canada is a foreign agent’s happy place. (Part I is here.)

In a breathless 1999 article on the opening of Canada’s top-security National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, the Canadian Medical Association Journal described the facility as “the place where science fiction movies would be shot.” The writer was fascinated by the various containment devices and security measures designed to keep “the bad boys from the world of virology: Ebola, Marburg, Lassa” from escaping. But what if insiders could easily evade all those sci-fi features in order to help Canada’s enemies? In the first of a two-part series, Peter Shawn Taylor looks into the trove of newly-unclassified evidence regarding the role of NML scientists Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng in aiding China’s expanding quest for the study – and potential military use – of those virus bad boys.

Equity has lately become the quintessential goal of all government policies. Every Canadian, regardless of position, place or identity, must be seen to be treated fairly by their public institutions. But how can a tax system – surely the most central of all government activities – be considered fair if it requires some families to pay thousands more in taxes than other families with exactly the same income? With Ottawa eagerly adding to the bloat of its ludicrously-complex and costly Income Tax Act, it’s time to confront the glaring inequity at the heart of Canada’s tax system. Peter Shawn Taylor looks back to the last time someone offered a solution to this problem – and finds we need this wisdom now more than ever.

Diversity may be our strength. But it is now alarmingly commonplace in Canada to blame any perceived diversity in outcomes between racial groups on vaguely-defined “systemic racism” or “white supremacy”. Case in point: the Federal Housing Advocate’s allegations of rampant racism in Canada’s housing market, and the need to address it with outlandishly disruptive policies. Delving deep into Statistics Canada’s ample supply of race-based data, Peter Shawn Taylor considers the evidence for racism in Canadian housing, education, income and poverty statistics, and finds a more convincing explanation much closer to home.

Everyone wants to protect children. Everyone also appreciates the benefits of a robust and engaged volunteer sector. We should be able to have both at the same time. Yet many long-time volunteers are quitting and potential new entrants are skipping the experience altogether. With safety precautions overwhelming the volunteer sector, it is becoming increasingly difficult to give away one’s own labour. Using his personal experience as a guide, Peter Shawn Taylor takes a close look at the charitable sector’s current mania for police checks and other safety measures, the costs they impose on volunteers and whether they’re actually protecting our kids from sexual predators.